Pippa Under The Ice
by EvaEvita
Summary: Title is self explanitory. There may be more than just this. Not sure. Flames are welcome, I have some marshmallows that need toasting!
1. Chapter 1

Rated T just incase I choose to do something weird (always a possiblity.) 

Background info: Pippa is under the ice and Gemma is trying to get her out.

None of these characters are mine. Just the words. Onto the story!

Pippa looks at the shrivled berries in her hand, and then at me. I am so fustrated, that I am forced to resort to desperate measures. "Pippa," I say, my voice firm, allowing no argument. "If, you eat those berries, I will have to too."

Her eyes grow wider as I pick up half of the bunch that she has in her hand. She has lost her voice for a few seconds before she screams, "YOU CANNOT!"

My eyes narrow. "Why ever not?"

"Well..." for once I see the usually articulate Pippa floundering for words. "You have a whole life ahead of you, and no one to stop it. Gemma, you cannot just dissapear."

"I can't, can I?"

"No, you can't!" She says with a flourish, sure she won this argument.

"Well, you can't either." I grab her other hand. "Pippa, Mr. Bumble is not a reason to die. Think about Felicity and-and Anne! Maybe even Martha and Elizabeth, but my point is people will be devistated by this." My throat is threatening to clog up with emotion. "Even I will Pip." My hand leaves hers and goes to her face. "Pippa , please, come back with me. We will all think of a way to rid ourselves of Bumbling, Bartebly Bumble." I can feel her wavering away from her own death. A last little push might have her coming back fully. I think of Kartick. I take a deep breath and say, not looking at her, "What about the Gypsy?"

I can feel Pippa's pulse skip at the mention of him. "What about him?"

"You'll have to be alive to see," I say, somewhat shakily. Pippa hugs me. "Gemma, you always know the right thing to say."

'Only for other people,' I think as I hug her back. I am promising something I do not and know not how to produce, whether I want to or not. "Come on," I whisper to her. "Get out of there and come back. People are waiting for you."

Pippa emits a sharp bark of laughter. "As if I haven't heard that before."

I smile before I can stop myself. "Cheer up Pip. We are going to start over again. Trust me"

If I write more depends on what you think. Please tell me.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-An Inconvenient Meeting

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Thanks to Prongs for the correction of the names. I'm lazy. I didn't want to run up two flights of stairs to get my book. Also, thanks Serena for the editing job!

* * *

I part ways with Pippa at the door, making sure that she would not go back to the garden. She says yes. Her general demeanor is thankful towards me. I close my eyes and imagine myself back in the cave and suddenly there I am. I look at everything in the cave as if I am seeing them for the first time. I see the whiskey bottle that I stole, along with the candles that we stole also. I sigh as I straighten and dust off my skirt, preparing for the long trek back to Spence.

I exit the cave and start walking, thinking about what just transpired in the garden. My mind keeps going back to when I practically promised Kartik to Pippa. Over, and over again, I keep hearing myself say, 'what about the Gypsy?'. It's like I am purposefully trying to torture myself.

Apparently, I forgot that I can not walk and think at the same time, for I tend not to notice things that I really should notice. This time I forgot to notice a root that was sticking up out of the ground. My foot got caught in it and I fell forward bracing myself for an impact that never came. Instead of feeling dirt, and all the muck of a forest floor upon me, I felt the pressure of a hand on my upper arm. Without even looking, I knew that the hand belonged to Kartik. Inwardly, I cursed the root I tripped over. What a way to meet him. I had hoped to talk to him in a nicer setting than a forest. Or at least, meeting him standing up. "What do you want?" I mumbled.

"Fine way to greet someone who just saved you from getting into serious trouble." Oh God. He's smirking. I can hear it in his voice. Trying to seem calm, I stand up. His hand is still on my arm. I rearrange my skirt. His hand is still there. I tilt my head to one side and look up into his eyes. He looks back at me. I forgot how brown his eyes are. We stare at each other for what seems like hours, but in reality it is only seconds. It is silent, allowing for the noise of the animals. Kartik breaks this silence by saying, "Your hair is a bit tousled"

His hand leaves my arm and goes to my face to brush back the locks of hair that have found their way out of their pins. His touch sends a jolt through me. I'm silent, just content to stand there and let him move the strands of hair back. At this time, there is nothing else in the world. It's just the two of us, in the forest. Thoughts of Felicity, Pippa, and Ann, are gone. Even my mother is nothing now. Slowly his hand moves from my hair to the small of my back and gently pushes me to him. The other hand soon follows, and he leans down to kiss me. All of my upbringing tells me to stop this madness now. It tells me to push him away, and act all indignant, but... I find that I can't. Or rather, I don't want to .

Slowly, a shrill call of "Gemma!" pierces the quietness around us. I do not hear it until it becomes more insistent, more shrill. I break the kiss, but make no attempt to leave his embrace. He doesn't make any attempt to break it either. He just puts his head on top of mine. Evidently, we put to much faith into the brush to keep us hidden, because Felicity and Anne bounded on up to us. "Gemma! Pippa's..." Felicity's voice trails off when she sees that I am with Kartik. Ann's eyes widen and she turns away so she can say that she didn't see me and Kartik together. Felicity, however, has no such reservation. "Hello, Gemma. And..."

Kartik begins to say something, but I interrupt him. "Felicity! What are you doing here"

Ann begins to hum, so she can say she didn't hear us bickering. "I came to find my friend who is being missed by Pippa and Mrs. Nightwing"

At the mention of our Headmistress, I blanche. Kartik notices. He leaves, touching my elbow in support. As he leaves, I remember that I needed to talk to him about Pippa. Oh, well.

Felicity is seething right now. I think that I am not in high favor. "What was that about?" Her voice is steely, but calm and collected. Past experiences have shown that when her voice takes on that quality, the person that she's talking to will receive a fall in favor soon. Oh, dear. I shall have to tread lightly, however hard that may be.

"Hello, Fee." I make my voice sound light and airy. Ann's humming is quickly becoming annoying. "So, I am being missed by Pippa and Mrs. Nightwing"

"Oh, don't do that." She snaps at me. "Don't pretend that I just didn't see that. That's worse than me and Ithal. I at least did not kiss him"

"Felicity, I am sor-"

"Sorry? Sorry? Why d'you say sorry"

"Well, it just seems like"

"No. Stop it. Just stop! I do not need this right now. Pippa just came back from an almost certain death"  
"Felic"

"No. I will not listen to you de"

"WILL YOU STOP INTERRUPTING ME!" I scream so loud, the birds in the trees near us, fly away and Ann stops humming. Felicity is stunned into submission. "You do not know what has transpired between me and Kartik. For all you know, we could be married for God's sake!" I am elaborating a little too much here, but I find I like it. It makes Felicity be quiet. "Kartik was there the day my mother died. There is a lot between us that you could not even began to comprehend. Let me just have this. I have wanted this for a long time. He finally gave into it. If you want to go to someone go. I really don't care about anything now"

Felicity is stunned for a few moments. Then she takes my arm and flashes me a bright smile. "So, how'd you save Pippa"  
She takes Ann's arm also, and walks us out of the forest. Ann and I are both shocked at the immediate turn around in Felicity's attitude, but I cannot help liking being back in Fee's favor (alliteration!) and I start recalling her with the story of how I saved Pippa.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Moving?

We arrive at Pippa and Felicity's room. Pip is sitting up in bed, her hair is curling about her shoulders. She is looking a lot better than she did in the garden. For a second, I let myself gloat in the fact that I just saved her life, but only for a second, because soon Mrs. Cross and Mrs. Nightwing come barreling into the room.They look shocked to see me there, Mrs. Nightwing more so. Mrs. Cross runs over to Pippa, who looks thoroughly annoyed to see her there. "Mother? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, honey. I came because...because..." She can't say anything. Whatever she's going to say it is going to be a lie. We all know that. Well, maybe not Mrs. Nightwing. "I care about you. I want to make sure that my only daughter is taken care of properly."

_Oh, bravo._ I think, mentally clapping my hands. Not an all out lie. I see the way that Mrs. Cross looks at Pippa. She looks at her as a drowning person looks at a rope to pull them to safety.

Pippa acknowledges her mother words with no more than a sigh. Felicity steps into action. I wonder at their ability to communicate without words. "Mrs. Cross, Mrs. Nightwing," she says sweetly. "I believe that Miss Cross is very tired. Would you mind too terribly if she was left alone to sleep?"

Mrs. Cross is agreeing enthusiastically to leave Pippa to rest. Mrs. Nightwing is little more skeptical, but she agrees, saying that she needs to talk to me. My stomach drops about three stories. I flash a look to Felicity and Ann that I hope sufficiently shows my terror. Fee is not looking at me, but at Pippa, making sure that she is comfortable. Ann sees my look and I know what she is thinking. _Should I save my friend from certain punishment or should I risk losing my reputation?_

What Ann does surprises me. She faints. Dimly, I recall Felicity saying _'Fainting is easy. All you have do is fall down, close your eyes and not talk.'' _Ann has done of all this wonderfully. I kneel down beside her, and take her hand. After a few seconds, she begins to wake up. "Wha-what happened?" Ann looks around her.

"You fainted, Ann." I say, carefully controlling my voice to that of a concerned friend. All I really want to do is laugh. Ann notices this and the corners of her mouth twitch. She is trying to refrain from laughing also. "Come along. I had better take you to lay down."

We start to stand up. I feel Pippa and Felicity's eyes on us, and I know that they are trying to not laugh also. We all avoid each other's eyes or else we will collapse into fits of laughter.

Mrs. Nightwing has the grace to suggest the most obvious answer to this little problem. "Can Ann not lay down here? On Miss Worthington's bed?" She has caught Ann in a lie. Ann looks as if she has just swallowed bad eggs. I hasten to intervene. "Mrs. Nightwing, I think it would be beneficial to Ann to lay in her own bed. It would also give Pippa a chance to rest, would it not?"

Mrs. Nightwing sees my logic. "All right, Miss Doyle. You may take Miss Bradshaw to your room, but come right back here. I do need to speak with you."

"But, Mrs. Nightwing, what happens if Miss Bradshaw should need more care? What happens if she should fall ill and not get to a chamber pot in time? Miss Doyle should be there for her." Pippa pipes up from the bed. I am so full of gratitude for her right now, it almost makes me feel bad about Kartik. Almost.

"All right. You ladies win. Miss Doyle, I shall speak with you after dinner. Mrs. Cross? Would you care to join me for tea?"

I leave with Ann before I can hear Mrs. Cross' answer. As soon as we are out of earshot I let out all the laughter I had been holding in. My laughter gets Ann giggling and soon enough we are howling with laughter. We are subject to some peculiar looks from the younger students, but we do not care.

When we are in our room, I ask "Ann, when did you become such a great actress?"

She blushes very deeply. "I do not know. I think I picked up some of it from watching Pippa."

"Where ever you learned, it was magnificent." I flop onto my bed and stare at Ann. "Are going to stay in here until dinner?"

"Yes." She says, looking back at me. "You want this to be believable, do you not?"

"Of course." I sigh and stare at the ceiling. "I am going to take a nap. What are you going to do?"

"Work on school work. You should too." She says sternly, mimicking Mrs. Nightwing. I laugh so hard that I give myself a cramp.

"You are too much Ann. Too much.." I sigh and surrender myself into dreams...

I am in the garden. I see Pippa, Felicity and Ann together on the opposite side of the garden. They look like they are having fun. Not wanting to be left out, I run over to them. "Hello." I say, as I run up to them. They smile and join me in the game that they are playing. It seems like a modified version of Blind-Man's Bluff. It is my turn to be the blind man. Ann ties the blindfold around my eyes and then runs away.

"Blind man!" I call.

"Bluff!" comes from many different directions. I run after what I think is the closest one.

"Blind man!"

"Bluff!" Felicity's call is the closest so I chase her. I catch a fold of her dress and yell out "I have you, Fee!"

"Gemma, what are you talking about?" I look up and find that I have lost the blindfold and am now standing a cold stone chamber. Fee and Ann are here, but not Pippa.

"Where is Pippa?" I ask, knowing that I sound like a spoilt child.

"She is waiting for you in the church. Gemma, are you feeling all right?" Felicity puts a lace glove hand against my face. Ann's face is full of concern.

"Will you please tell me what is going on?" I say, trying to quell my rising panic. I know what's coming next, but I do not want to hear it.

"Gemma, you are getting married." Ann pushes me in front of a floor length mirror. I see a vision in white satin with unruly red hair and bright green eyes. I cannot believe it.

"Who am I marrying?"

"No time!" Felicity is practically yelling at me, while pulling me out of the room. Ann is following with the train of my dress. "You have to go down the aisle now!"

She presses my hand into father's. He smiles at me. I try to smile back, but fail miserably. "Father," I say. "I cannot do this."

"Yes, you can." He smiles and gives my hand a squeeze. I notice that he is looking better than he was at Parents Day, for which I am grateful, but I would rather not notice it as I am walking down the aisle to meet my future husband.

We are at the end and I see the back of my fiance's head. I ask in wonderment "Who are you?"

He turns around...

"GEMMA!"

"WHAT?" I am startled out my dream by Ann yelling my name. You would think that after a year of sleeping under a slanted roof that I would learn not to sit up quickly. Well, it turns out that I do not realize this and hit my head very hard on the ceiling.

"Gemma, are you all right?" Ann is very concerned. I bring my hand to my forehead, and take it away. There is a blood on it. "Here." Ann hands me a handkerchief soaked in cold water. "This will make you feel better."

"Thank you." I put the cloth gingerly to my forehead, hissing a bit at the pain. "What did you wake me up for?"

"Dinner. You think that you can make it down there fine?"

"Yes. I think so." I slide off the bed and take a few unsteady steps towards the door. Ann is behind me all the way. At length, she laughs a little bit. I, being a bit peeved, say "You think my being incapacitated is funny?"

"No." She says indignantly, but soon smiles and says, "Yes."

"Why ever are you laughing?"

"You would think that you were the one who had the fainting fit earlier today." She laughs even harder now. I do not see what is so funny, so I ignore her and concentrate on the dream I had earlier.

I was getting married. Me, married! It really annoyed me that Ann woke me up before I could find out who was my groom. _Could it be Kartik? _The thought is in my head before I can suppress it. Now that I mention it, I realize that the man did have dark hair...

"Miss Doyle! What happened to you?" Mrs. Nightwing notices the handkerchief soaked with blood and motions for me to sit on the bench nearest us. Somehow, Ann has guided me into the dining room, and now, because of Mrs. Nightwing's announcement, everyone is staring out me. Cecliy, Martha and Elizabeth are looking more malevolent than concerned.

"It is nothing, Mrs. Nightwing. I hit my head on the ceiling."

"After she had been lying on her bed studying." Ann smartly puts in. _Bravo Ann_, I think. She is _really_ getting better at lying. I have to thank Pippa later on.

"Well, I applaud your efforts at doing better at schoolwork, but I do think that maybe you are getting a bit big for your room. After all, you are one of the tallest girls here." She says, not meaning to be unkind...I hope. "I have an idea! Miss Temple, you do not have a roommate do you?"

I see where this is going and am not the best please at it. "Oh, Mrs. Nightwing, you needn't..." I begin, but Cecily cuts me off.

"Yes, Mrs. Nightwing, I do not have a roommate." Cecily says, all sweet as sugar.

"Would you mind too terribly much if Miss Doyle roomed with you?"

"Not at all, Mrs. Nightwing. I am sure that Miss Doyle and I will be better friends for it."

"Wonderful! Tomorrow, Miss Doyle will move into Miss Temple's room." I am shocked senseless. Ann is still as a statue and Fee drops the fork she had been playing with. Martha and Elizabeth are looking bored, like they expected this to happen. "Now, everyone, please start to enjoy dinner. Miss Doyle, I would like to have another word with you after dinner." With that said she walks off to join the teachers, oblivious to the chaos she has left us with.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Visitor!

A/N: I'm not very thrilled with this chapter. If you don't like it, I'll agree. I've been pretty busy with school and all that good stuff so... enjoy!

A/N 2: Serena: Sorry I didn't e-mail this to you. I just really wanted to get it up!

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Dinner is a very silent affiar. Cecily, Martha and Elizabeth are silently smarting. I am carefully studing my food. Mashed potatoes can be very interesting if you look hard enough.

Ann eats as she normally does, although she sometimes looks at me, shakes her head and concertrates on cutting her roast beef into small lady-like bites. Felicity keeps on shooting dark looks in the direction of Cecily, Martha, Elizabeth and sometimes Mrs. Nightwing, who appears oblivous to it. The younger girls feel the tension between and do their best to be quiet, as much as fifty girls _can_ be quiet.

As always, after dinner we are ushered into the great hall for 'valuable socializing time' as Kartik so delicatly put it. I sigh as I settle into a chair in Felicity's private section. Ann slides into the chair across from me and says "What a day."

"You can say that again." I close my eyes and think about Karik... but not for long. Ann repeats "what a day" and Feicity decides to throw a pillow at her... or so I think because of the squeals. I open my eyes as Ann retaliates, throwing an even larger pillow at Fee. She shrieks even louder than Ann. Not wanting to be left out, I grab a pillow and throw it at whoevers closest to me. That would be Ann. Pretty soon, we hitting each other with all of these pillows and laughing, as well as screaming, when one gets caught on one of my hairpins. The expensive silk rips, sending feathers flying everywhere. It also manges to dislodge other pins, and my unruly hair comes undone.

Attracted by our screams, we have a group of people watching us. In the front are Cecily, Martha and Elizabeth, tight lipped with dissapporval... and maybe jesously? Behind them, the younger girls are trying to get past and catch us proper girls misbehaving. Looking even farther down into the great hall, near the middle of the room, I spot Mrs. Nightwing talking to a man. With a start, I reconize him. It's Tom

Ann and Fee notice that I am no longer interested in pillows and look at where I am looking. "Is that?" Ann says nervously. "I-i-i-i-t has to b-b-be."

"Yes. It's my br-mmph!" Felicity's hand clamps over my mouth suddenly. "Quiet!" She hisses, jerking her head at the crowd. "You want them to know?"

Our crowd is giggling at us...except for the front three. They are studing Tom. "I think he's handsome." Cecliy states, looking directly at Tom.

"Oh yes, he is quite handsome isn't he?" Martha simpers. Elizabeth checks to make sure her hair is fine. Ann taps my shoulder and I turn to face her, forgeting Fee's hand. I seem to be doing a lot of forgeting lately. "Ow." I say quite loudly after she drops her hand with a shurg. "Your own fault." She says.

Ann hands me the pins that came loose from my hair. I fix it as well as I can, without a mirror. Martha, Cecily and Elizabeths comments about my brother are becoming unbearable at this point. "For heaven's sake..." I mutter as I shove the last pin in my hair. I force myself through the gaggle of girls. For a bit of fun with the grusome threesome (you have to know who I'm talking about) I say "Tom!" and walk up to him and give him a hug. He stiffens for a bit and then hugs me back. I feel the dissapointment from the corner and say "It's great to see you again brother."

For some reason, the disapointment grew in intensity...

"Good to see you again, Gemma." Tom steps back and looks at me. "You look well... except for this" his hand goes to the gash on my hairline "and these." He brushes off some feathers.

"Oh, those." I laugh a nervous laugh. "I was just having fun with my friends, Miss Bradshaw and Miss Worthington. Bit of school-girl fun really." I hear a snort of very unladylike laughter that I _know_ came from Felicity.

"I see..." he raises his eyebrows at me. "Who instigated this 'fun'?"

"Um..." I see Mrs. Nightwing looking at me. Oh, blast. I have no idea what to do. I can tell Tom about our pillow fight and have Mrs. Nightwing punish us. I can not say anything and still get punished for not answering my guest. "Would you like some tea, Tom?" I think that that is the safest course, remembering Mrs. Nightwing's scene of decroum. "You must be cold from you ride over here."

"Tea, yes. That sounds lovely." Tom sounds impatient. I tell a maid to bring tea into the parlor and I lead him into there.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" I sit down on an overstuffed, but still uncomfortable, chair. Tom takes the sofa. He laughs and says, "Do I need an occasion to come to see my sister?"

_Yes."_Tom, wh-"

"Ah. Look, tea!" The maid comes in and sets down the set and backs out quietly. "I forget, Gemma. How do you like your tea? Do you milk, sugar, or honey?" He busies himself over the cups with all the enthusiasm of a lonely spinster who has just gotten an unexpected visitor.

"Tom." I still his hand. He looks up at me. "What happened?"

He sighs and leans into the sofa. "It's father." He says quietly. "Something's wrong."

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger. I just really wanted to get this chapter done. I'll explain more in the next chapter. I've just started High school and I have honors classes and TONS of homework, not to mention, making stage band, so... (sorry if I sound like I'm complaining!)


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